Agreement Regarding Air Conditioning

Tenants requested provision for air conditioning in a building that had none. Landlord proposed to install transom window sleeves in each bedroom and living room with ventilation fans and to purchase air-conditioners at bulk rates to install in the sleeves. Tenants could then purchase the air-conditioners from landlord and would be responsible for their maintenance, repair, and replacement as well as electricity costs. Under the proposal, which landlord gave all tenants in the form of lease rider, tenants would be required to leave the air conditioning units in the apartments when they moved out. Tenants asked the DHCR if the air-conditioners would become a required service. Landlord maintained that they would not. The DHCR stated in an opinion letter that based on the fact that tenants agreed in the lease riders to buy and maintain their own units, air conditioning couldn't be deemed a required service. The DHCR warned, however, that if a future tenant moved into the apartment containing an air-conditioner and didn't sign a lease rider informing him of the arrangement, then the air conditioning unit could become a required service for that tenant.

DHCR Opin. Ltr. by Charles Goldstein (2/7/96) [2-page document]